U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Cabrera says the Trump administration moved personnel and humanitarian supplies into Panama within 24 hours of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit the country on October 9 — without relying on USAID.
“When time gets tough, America shows up,” Cabrera told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle over the weekend.
The earthquake struck between Colombia and Costa Rica and left one person dead, at least 27 injured, and more than 400 buildings damaged. At Panama’s request, the U.S. sent 20 Urban Search and Rescue personnel in less than 24 hours to help assess whether evacuees could safely return to their homes.
President Trump also approved $5 million in humanitarian assistance for the effort.
“We’ve gotten them over 2,500 blankets, 2,900 mosquito nets, 750 tarps, 200 family tents, 1200 kitchen sets, 500 sleeping mats,” Cabrera said. “All of these things to help over 12,000 people that have been affected.”
To get people and supplies where they were needed, the U.S. repurposed helicopters already stationed in Panama for counternarcotics work with local authorities.
“We were able to turn those into an air bridge to move personnel, to move humanitarian assistance from the city to those areas that were affected,” Cabrera said. “So again, we were able to put helicopters at their disposal, personnel at their disposal, in addition to providing $5 million worth of humanitarian assistance.”
No USAID, No Problem, Ambassador Says
Cabrera pointed to the Panama response as proof the U.S. can handle disaster relief without USAID, which President Trump shut down and folded into the State Department.
“You know, a lot of folks said when we dissolved USAID, ‘How are we going to respond? How are we going to show up for our friends and allies when times get tough?'” Cabrera said. “And I can tell you that what we’ve seen in all of these different situations [in] Jamaica, Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, that we’ve been able to respond and we’ve been very effective while being focused on the things that matter.”
Cabrera said USAID had been “focused on DEI and genders and all sorts of odd things, as opposed to having policies that were aligned with our president [and] with our secretary of state.”
He said the next phase of recovery will focus on rebuilding damaged roads and bridges so communities cut off by the earthquake can reconnect.
“So now comes the part of trying to help with reconnecting communities, right? To make sure that you can travel out there, whether it be by road — wherever you may be going… to get these bridges and roads repaired,” Cabrera said.
